Security officials who leaked secrets face jail

Tuesday 29 June 2010

Two former security service workers face two and three years in jail for leaking state secrets to a journalist from the Telegraaf newspaper.

The public prosecution department says there is enough evidence to prove the two passed on confidential information about the Dutch position on Iraq and security during a visit by the Dalai Lama.

The information led to two Telegraaf exclusives.

In one, the paper accused AIVD staff of simply copying reports about Iran's alleged weapons of mass destruction from Britain's M16 and other foreign security services, without any independent verification of the facts. The Netherlands supported the invasion of Iraq partly on the basis of AIVD reports.

The second focused on claims that threats had been made against the Dalai Lama during his visit to the Netherlands in June 2009.

In their efforts to trace the leaks, the security service tapped the phones of several Telegraaf journalists, which was ruled illegal in court last year.

© DutchNews.nl

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